Weed control variety selection

Miscellaneous Trifluoromethyl Compounds. The herbicides in this group are used for a wide variety of weed-control purposes. Acifluorfen, lactofen [77501-63-4] and oxyfluorfen are used for selective, pre-, and post-emergence weed control in croplands. Fluorochloridone is used for selective, pre-emergence weed control in cropland, and fluridone, fomesafen, and mefluidide [53780-34-0] are used for post-emergence control (296). Fluridone is also used as an aquatic herbicide (2). 

While allelopathy is not covered in this chapter, excellent weed control can be achieved at reduced herbicide rate when used in conjunction with allelopathic rice varieties. Therefore, selection of highly allelopathic crop varieties, either through traditional breeding or using genetic engineering techniques, may also provide novel and low input approaches to weed control. 

Triazine herbicides provide selective weed control in crops such as corn, sorghum, and sugarcane. In addition, some members of the triazine family are used for weed control in orchards, horticultural, and perennial crops, etc. A unique selective use of triazine herbicides is in triazine-tolerant rapeseed. Although triazine herbicides provide control of a wide variety of grass and broadleaf weeds, the long-term, widespread, and repetitive use of triazine herbicides in crop and noncrop situations has led to the selection of many triazine-resistant weeds. The physiological and biochemical basis of triazine selectivity between crops and weeds and of resistance to triazine herbicides in weeds is well understood. 

Herbicide safeners (also referred to as herbicide antidotes or protectants) fulfill an important role in crop protection. Safeners are chemicals that protect crop plants from unacceptable injury caused by herbicides. Either by placement on the crop seed or by way of a physiological selectivity mechanism, safeners in commercial use do not negatively impact the weed control of the herbicide. Although many herbicides have been developed for use without a safener, some of the strongest and most broad-spectrum herbicides tend towards border-line crop selectivity, which may completely preclude use in a particular crop or at least limit maximum use rates or the crop varieties that can be safely treated. It is for such situations that safeners have been developed. Several books and reviews of safeners have been written over the past 20 years [1-3]. It is not the intention of this chapter to cover in detail older safeners, but rather to focus on more recently developed commercial safeners as well as some of the older compounds still in wide commercial usage. 

Uses Uracil herbicide applied to soil to control a wide variety of armiral and perennial grasses, broad-leaved weeds and general vegetation on uncropped land. It is also used for selective weed control in apple, asparagus, cane fruit, hops and citrus crops. 

Diphenyl ethers are both systemic and contact herbicides and are used for the selective control of annual broad-leaved weeds and grasses in a variety of crops (such as soybeans, maize, rice, wheat, barley, peanuts, cotton, onions and ornamental trees) under different application scenarios. This class of herbicides contains a diphenyl ether moiety as the core substructure. Acifluorfen, bifnox, chlomethoxyfen, chlorni-trofen, fluoroglycofen-ethyl and fomesafen, etc., are representative compounds of the diphenyl ether herbicides (Figure 1). 

Atrazine is a white crystalline substance that is sold under a variety of trade names for use primarily as a selective herbicide to control broadleaf and grassy weeds in com and sorghum... 

There are a number of possibilities for using plant secondary chemistry to control herbivory in crop plants. One possibility is to select for insect resistant lines and though it has been done in only a few cases, select for specific allomones. There are, however, some potential problems with this approach. There is a cost for the production of the secondary compounds which may be useful for defense ( ). Insect resistant soybean cultivars produce lower yields of seeds and accumulate nitrogen at a slower rate than insect susceptible varieties in the absence of herbivores 3 ). Conversely, varieties of crop plants selected for high yield are often more susceptible to insects, pathogens, and weeds (35). 

Uses selective pre-emergence and post-emergence herbicide to effectively control a wide variety of broadleaf weeds in corn, grain, sorghum, maize, rice, and soybeans. 

This approach should be used to enhance herbicide selectivity in crop varieties, to avoid carry-over injury, for specific and limited special problems, and for minor acreage and high value crops. A major objective of developing herbicide resistant crops should be to provide more flexibility in control of resistant weeds. 

Uses Selective preemergence and postemergence herbicide used on a wide variety of food crops to control maity annual broad-leaved and grass weeds. 

Uses Selective, contact, postemeigence herbicide used to control a variety of aimual and perennial broad-leaved weeds in most grass and legume crops. 

A whole family of these herbicides have since been introduced by a variety of companies, recent examples being more selective in their action, e.g. fluo-meturon (R = 3-trifluoromethylphenyl) which is used for the control of broad-leaved weeds and grasses in cotton. 

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